1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff. I'm Josh, there's 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: Chuck and there's Jerry. You can hear air conditioning in 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: the background, and this is short stuff. I got this 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: idea just a couple of days ago. Emily and I 5 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: were watching Jeopardy, as we don't do every night, but 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: we try to make it that appointment viewing. We have 7 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: a good time watching that show together. Yeah, it's great. 8 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: Do you remember the time we were on Jeopardy? I 9 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: know how about that? Uh, it's funny because my daughter 10 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:31,480 Speaker 1: will walk through the room occasionally be like you were 11 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: on that shows. Um. So it was a question a 12 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: couple of nights ago or I guess an answer. A 13 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: clue is what they call them. And it said something 14 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: about these two gentlemen, and I can't remember exactly how 15 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: it was worded, um, but something about like surveying, and 16 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: I was like Lewis and Clark, and it was Mason 17 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: and Dixon. And being from the South, you always hear 18 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: about the Mason Dixon line are not always, but it's 19 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: a enough term to where I was like, wait a minute. 20 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: I was like, Mason and Dixon were people, and I 21 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: never really thought about it. Of course, they were, but 22 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: I knew nothing about this at all. So this popped up. 23 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:15,039 Speaker 1: The House of Works had a pretty actually really good 24 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: article on it. So, um, here we go and away 25 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: we go. Because I thought Mason and Dixon were probably 26 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: politicians of some sort, I had no idea they were 27 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: the surveyors. You've got to be a pretty amazing surveyor 28 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: for somebody to name your survey after you, especially when 29 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,560 Speaker 1: it's the one that's as important as the Mason Dixon line, 30 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: because as we'll see, it's the line that divided the 31 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: north and the south. But even before that, decades before that, 32 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:42,280 Speaker 1: it was a really important line that settled the decades 33 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: long boundary dispute between William Penn and the Pennsylvania Colony 34 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: and um Lord Baltimore Charles Calvert of the Maryland Colony 35 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: to the south. And those two were really going at it. 36 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: And the reason they were going at it was because 37 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: Penn was given the land down to the parallel fortieth 38 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: degree latitude north latitude, and Calvert, Lord Calvert was given 39 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: the land from I think like the Potomac up to parallel. 40 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: The problem is the earliest maps that map Parallel got 41 00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: it kind of wrong, and Philadelphia by these early maps, 42 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: was in Maryland, about five miles within the Maryland border, 43 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: and William Penn said, that just can't stand. We need Philadelphia. 44 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: It's really important. Yeah, like everyone wanted Philadelphia. One day, 45 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: those great people will throw batteries at Santa Claus. I 46 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:39,519 Speaker 1: forgot about. We need to claim this wonderful city. Don't 47 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: make this show it's always sunny in Philadelphia. It's gonna 48 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: be pretty great and last a thousand years. Also, at 49 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,360 Speaker 1: Stake was about four thousand square miles, so it was 50 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: a lot of land. And this was a dispute for decades, 51 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,960 Speaker 1: and the people of these two areas started to kind 52 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: to worry that things were getting so heated that they 53 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: would be like double text on their property, because both 54 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: places would claim that they're in their part of the world. 55 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: And so finally in seventeen sixty three, the King of 56 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: England said, all right, I'm gonna get in here. We're 57 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: gonna commission this survey. I got a couple of crack 58 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: uh surveyors. Once an astronomer named Charles Mason. One is 59 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,680 Speaker 1: a surveyor named Jeremiah Dixon. There from England. They've got 60 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: all this fancy, fancy modern equipment that they're gonna bring along. 61 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: They're gonna need a ton of booze and a lot 62 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: of people, and it's gonna take years, but we're gonna 63 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 1: finally settle this. Yeah. They spent fifty eight months from 64 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: what I can tell, basically straight through living in tents 65 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: surveying a two hundred and thirty three mile or three 66 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 1: seventy four kilometer stretch, and they settled that boundary dispute. 67 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: And did they ever because even still today, surveyors, modern 68 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: surveyors who used geosynchron satellites to do their surveying, are 69 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: in awe of how accurate Mason and Dixon's survey line 70 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: and their their boundary line work was. That it was 71 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: just almost precisely dead on because they've gone back, modern 72 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 1: surveyors have gone back and recalculated it, and they're like, 73 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,760 Speaker 1: it's basically exactly right. Yeah, And I think some of 74 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,920 Speaker 1: the techniques they use informed surveying that we still see today. 75 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,720 Speaker 1: So it's it's a pretty cool story. Um, so let's 76 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:28,760 Speaker 1: take a break. We'll talk a little bit about that 77 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: booze and uh, how they accomplished this feat a little 78 00:04:32,000 --> 00:05:01,400 Speaker 1: more right after this, it's they got drunk a lot, apparently, 79 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:03,560 Speaker 1: I guess, so I don't want to harp on it, 80 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 1: but it is pretty funny. One of the footnotes in 81 00:05:05,360 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: this article that you sent, Uh, where did that come from? 82 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 1: It was good. I will tell you later on okay. Um, 83 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: the supply list from seventeen sixty four, and it's just 84 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,120 Speaker 1: one of the years had twenty twenty gallons of whiskey, 85 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: forty gallons of brandy, and eighty gallons of wine. Uh. 86 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,599 Speaker 1: In the end, they were paid about thirty five hundred 87 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: pounds uh sixteen pounds and nine shillings, which would be 88 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: about three hundred grand today or about sixty dollars per year. 89 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: But they did a lot of hard work drawing this line. 90 00:05:41,279 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: It was very meticulous. They had some Native Americans helping 91 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,119 Speaker 1: them as guide, some Iroquois people. Uh. They had about 92 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: a hundred and twenty people in their party, and they, 93 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: like I said, they had sort of the state of 94 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: the art equipment at the time, which, um, you know, 95 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: I think informed later equipment, but it is pretty pretty 96 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: cract stuff at the time. Yeah. There's one in particular 97 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:06,119 Speaker 1: called a zenith sector and it had a plumb line 98 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,880 Speaker 1: that ran vertically straight, vertically to the ground, and then 99 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,719 Speaker 1: it had a telescope that you could, you know, put 100 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: to different degrees at different angles, and then you had 101 00:06:15,279 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: to get on the ground and look up through the 102 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,400 Speaker 1: telescope to find the star you were looking for. And 103 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 1: then you could measure the angle of the star um 104 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: with the zenith of the sky, the highest point of 105 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: the sky, and calculate an angle here on Earth. And 106 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:31,559 Speaker 1: that's the kind of stuff that they were doing again 107 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,200 Speaker 1: over fifty eight months. And one of the reasons why 108 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,359 Speaker 1: the survey was so advanced for its time is that 109 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: it was the first geodetic survey carried out at least 110 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: in North America. And geodetic surveys are the ones that 111 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:48,800 Speaker 1: are so precise. They calculate the lumps and bumps and 112 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 1: um irregular spheroid shape of the Earth into its calculations 113 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: to make it that precise. That's why it was so precise. 114 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: But again, these guys weren't using satellites and computers. They 115 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: were using telescopes and plumb lines that they had to 116 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: get on the ground to look up to find stars with, 117 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: and their noodles to calculate their findings. I wonder if 118 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: the the King of England's like, we really just needed 119 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: you to walk left and drop some bird seed. Uh, 120 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: So what happened along the way? They they didn't drop 121 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: bird seed. This is kind of even more impressive. Is 122 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: that reference to something dropping bird seed? Well, I mean 123 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: the old stories of dropping bird seed to find your 124 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: way back? But yeah, you never heard that? No I haven't. 125 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: Is it like the joke is because like the birds 126 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: would come eat the seed. I think it was probably 127 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: from some fairy tale. Originally, I don't know. I totally 128 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: ruined this. I really think we're going to edit this 129 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: part out because I think I'm just going to leave 130 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: it as is. It was so beautiful and hilarious, I 131 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: think we should leave it. Um. So, what they did 132 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: drop was limestone posts that they brought over from England 133 00:07:57,600 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: every mile along the way, and I think it was 134 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: like two hundred and thirty something miles UH in total, 135 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 1: as well as an eighty three mile uh north south 136 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: border between what was Pennsylvania or what is now Delaware 137 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: what was then Pennsylvania in eastern Maryland. But they dropped 138 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: these limestone posts along the way, and then every five 139 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 1: miles dropped a crown stone, which is a very very heavy, 140 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: like a five to seven hundred pounds stone that they 141 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: carved a C on one side for calvert and a 142 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: P on the other side for pen um. Sometimes they 143 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: even had coat of arms and stuff like that until 144 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: they got to the Appalachian Mountains and then they were like, 145 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: we can't do these crown stones anymore. We can't carry 146 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: these up over the mountain. And also it's hilarious they 147 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,679 Speaker 1: shipped these over from England, like, we're not sure if 148 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: there's stone in America, so we're just gonna cover all 149 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: those came from England because I know the posted I 150 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: think the stones did as well. Okay, yeah, I'm pretty sure, 151 00:08:55,480 --> 00:09:00,959 Speaker 1: which is hilarious but also really unnecessary. Sure, well, I 152 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: didn't know what was over here. So, like I said, 153 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:06,440 Speaker 1: the Mason Dixon Line has been recalculated, much to the 154 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: thrill of modern surveyors. And I think one of the 155 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,600 Speaker 1: first surveys of the Mason Dixon Line was carried out 156 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,559 Speaker 1: by the Mason Dixon Line Preservation Partnership, which is adorable 157 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,920 Speaker 1: because there's surveyors from Pennsylvania and surveyors from Maryland involved 158 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: in that partnership, and they went around to do an 159 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: inventory of all of those um milestones and crown stones 160 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, and they found a lot of them, 161 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: which is really cool. I think they found all but ten. Uh, 162 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,720 Speaker 1: and they reckon just maybe flooding apparently. Uh. In the 163 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:41,559 Speaker 1: Civil War they would use them for target practice and 164 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: stuff like that, or just the Civil War in general 165 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,560 Speaker 1: destroyed them. But all but ten is not too bad, No, 166 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: it's not so. The Mason Dixon Line was established the 167 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,839 Speaker 1: boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland and also Delaware and then 168 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: what would become West Virginia, and that in and of 169 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: itself was pretty great considering how acurate they were. The 170 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:04,080 Speaker 1: reason why it divides the North and the South had 171 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: nothing to do with Mason and Dixon had to do 172 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:10,079 Speaker 1: with the fact that um Maryland was a slave state. 173 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: It was the northernmost slave state, and in eighteen twenty 174 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:17,199 Speaker 1: the Missouri Compromise was passed that basically said the slave 175 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 1: states are considered in the South, and all the South 176 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:21,840 Speaker 1: states are slave states, the North states are free states. 177 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 1: And that's that. And because Maryland was a slave state, 178 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: it was considered the South, and since it south of 179 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: the missing Mason Dixon line, the Mason Dixon Line was 180 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: used to distinguish the North and the South between eighteen 181 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,559 Speaker 1: twenty on, and that's kind of it. I'm sure Maryland 182 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,839 Speaker 1: today is like, oh, kind of not really though, Yeah, 183 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 1: I think most of the South says the same thing too. 184 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:46,400 Speaker 1: I mean one of the biggest shocks I've ever gotten 185 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: in my life, but a really dull life, was finding 186 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,199 Speaker 1: out that Maryland was technically in the South. I had 187 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:55,559 Speaker 1: no idea. Yeah, I mean, if you're from Georgia. I 188 00:10:55,679 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: even remember growing up thinking Virginia was pushing it right. Um, 189 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,880 Speaker 1: But then I met Virginians and many I think maybe 190 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: because they're fairly far north geographically on the East Coast, 191 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:12,240 Speaker 1: uh are sometimes very adamantly Southern. Yeah, they really love 192 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 1: horses too. That's pretty southern. And then one other little tidbit, 193 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: so from eighteen twenty to eighteen fifty, when the Fugitive 194 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 1: Slave Act was passed, Um, if you were enslaved in 195 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:27,320 Speaker 1: Maryland and you can make it just across the border 196 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:32,680 Speaker 1: to Pennsylvania, you were free, amazing, and you would eventually 197 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:37,400 Speaker 1: become a Philadelphia Eagles fan. And boo Santa Claus. I 198 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: don't know if they threw batteries at Santa Claus. They 199 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 1: threw batteries at somebody. I feel like it was Santa Claus. Yeah, 200 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: that that shows up in our Black Friday episode if 201 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: you want to go listen to that one dedicated fans 202 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: there in Philly. That's all I'll say. Right, And by 203 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: the way, Chuck, that um the post that we were 204 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:58,440 Speaker 1: talking about, it's called the Survey of Mason and Dixon, 205 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: Granddaddy of all titled disputes, and it's hosted on the 206 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: Maryland Bar Association's website that m has be a dot org. 207 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:09,160 Speaker 1: So look it up. Fantastic and you'll be like, this 208 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,560 Speaker 1: is great. I love it, Okay, And I guess that's it, right, Chuck. 209 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,080 Speaker 1: I think that means you know what it means. Short 210 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: stuff is out. Stuff you should know is a production 211 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, 212 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 213 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.